What If Gun Laws Mirrored the Strictest Abortion Laws?

On Thursday, two days after yet another mass shooting, the Senate voted against two modest gun control proposals. One of them would have expanded background checks for guns purchased online and at gun shows, and the other would have prevented those whose names show up on terror watch lists from having immediate access to guns. Granted, the list itself has its problems, but if we're not willing to at least consider slightly inconveniencing those suspected of terror connections—even while we simultaneously bellow about the apocalyptic, existential threat posed by ISIS—then nothing is ever going to change. At this point, it seems there is no level of carnage that will inspire those beholden to the gun lobby to budge an inch. Oh, and for the coup de grâce, the Senate also voted to defund Planned Parenthood. As the GIF says, "LOL nothing matters."

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While most of the focus is typically on the federal level when it comes to these two tent poles of the never-ending culture wars, it's actually the state legislatures where we should being paying closer attention, especially when it comes to lawmakers like Missouri State Representative Stacey Newman (D), who are at least fighting the good fight. Granted, Newman's latest proposed bill—one that would subject gun purchasers to the same odious restrictions placed on those in her state seeking an abortion—is doomed to fail, but when common sense and rational argument are in short supply, sometimes all you have left is good-old-fashioned legislative trolling.

Newman's bill, which she pre-filed this week, would mandate that gun buyers be required to wait 72 hours, the same waiting period those who require an abortion must wait in Missouri, which is one of the most restrictive states and home to only one abortion provider. Further echoing the abortion laws, they would have to get written permission from a doctor, purchase the gun no closer than 120 miles from their legal residence, watch a video about fatal firearm injuries, tour an emergency trauma center to see the impact of gun violence, and meet with those who have lost family members and faith leaders who have performed funerals for victims.

"If we truly insist that Missouri cares about 'all life,' then we must take immediate steps to address our major cities' rising rates of gun violence," Newman said in a statement. "Popular proposals among voters, including universal background checks and restricting weapons from abuser and convicted felons, are consistently ignored each session. Since restrictive policies regarding a constitutionally protected medical procedure are the GOP's legislative priority each year, it makes sense that their same restrictions apply to those who may commit gun violence. Our city mayors and law enforcement drastically need help in saving lives."

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The bill, which is unlikely to even be heard, never mind passed in the Republican-dominated state legislature, is a largely symbolic salvo from the frustrated Newman, who has tried similar stunt-legislation in the past, like in 2012, when she attempted to apply the same abortion rules to men seeking vasectomies.

We called Newman to talk about it.

ESQ: What prompted you to file this bill?

State Representative Newman: I have been working on gun violence prevention in Missouri since 2000, and it has been a signature issue of mine in the state legislature for the past seven years. I also take the lead on reproductive justice, and we've been in the news quite a bit with our Planned Parenthood witch hunt hearings. I serve on the House Committee, which ultimately led to the demise of the University of Missouri chancellor over an abortion provider in Missouri. We are also one of the most restrictive states in terms of reproductive restriction with our 72-hour wait for an abortion. Every year, there are more and more bills being filed, and some of them are quite egregious, like requiring the father of the pregnancy to give consent, which in an incest or rape situation is obviously horrible. So that's the appetite in our legislature. It's nothing to have 20 to 30 anti-abortion bills introduced a year, and this being an election year, we know there will be some extreme ones. We've been one of the few states holding these witch hunt hearings. We've got people in this legislature running for higher office, including one Kurt Schaefer, who's grown from a moderate, pro-choice Republican to very much an extremist as he's running statewide. We're now affecting women, poor women, and college kids, their access to reproductive healthcare, things every Republican's wife, daughter, sister, and mother have access too. This is contraception, cancer screening, just the normal stuff that we women depend on every year to stay alive. Right now we only have one abortion provider, and that's in St. Louis. The other nearest one is in Kansas City on the Kansas side. That's at least a two-hour travel time for most women.

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That has to be exceptionally frustrating to watch.

This has all been done on purpose. This is a pro-life lobby objective, part of their rhetoric to increase the extremist conservative vote. I've had it. We're talking about real people's lives.

You must be sure it's not actually going to pass, right?

I'm in the minority in Missouri state legislature. I'm in my seventh year, and I can count on one hand the number of bills I've filed that have even been granted a public hearing. So no, I'm very realistic, I don't expect any of my bills to actually pass. Of course, I am in the minority, and that's kind of the way of the game. I'm on the defense team.

The other side of this with gun violence is that Kansas City and St. Louis are in the top 10 in terms of gun violence fatalities. Our police chiefs and prosecutors and mayors have been begging our legislature for even a simple universal background check, but the legislature turns its back. There were two bills filed in state senate this year to allow concealed guns on the campuses. That's their answer. All of our colleges—Washington University is right here in my own district, and they have a gun violence initiative—they're adamantly against this, and yet that's the legislature's answer.

Meanwhile, our hands are tied. We're seeing these mass shootings increase, and I'm at my wits end. Most of us are. A lot of us, people like me who work on these same issues in other states, have banded together. If that's the appetite, these abortion restrictions, it just makes sense to mirror my bill to reflect that.

Do you expect to get any support from your colleagues?

Well, so far, it's only been pre-filed a couple of days. We don't go back into session until January 6, so most of us aren't co-sponsoring anything yet. But I do expect support. I do have support in my legislature in terms of fighting many of these horrendous ideas about more guns. We always need more support. There's a core group, particularly of us progressive women, who debate until we're blue on these things, that represent most of St. Louis and the Kansas City metro areas where we do have this gun violence.

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What about around the country?

In terms of support from my comrades in other states who are dealing with these same issues, I've been hearing from many of them this morning. Many of us have worked together in the last year—we call ourselves the American State Legislators for Gun Violence Prevention. There are over 200 of us in all 50 states that have signed on to fight these issues, both red and blue states. In minority caucuses, we fight just the same. We want simple things like universal background checks. Ninety percent of Americans want this on all gun purchases. That polling number in Missouri has hovered around 80 percent. The majority of people get that a 90-second federal background check is nothing. It's the Internet and gun shows that have these giant loopholes, where you can go buy whatever you want, how much you want. Now we're hearing more about people on the no-fly list being able to purchase weapons, and this argument coming out of California that yes, it's a more progressive state in terms of anti-gun violence statues, but you can come to Missouri or go on the Internet and buy as much as you want. You can buy long guns and as much ammunition you want. So it's got to be done on a federal level. It's the stranglehold of the gun lobby.

I've been looking at the amount of money donated to candidates by the NRA, and it doesn't seem like all that much, outside of the big national names; $2,000 here, $1,000 there.

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Let me tell you how they do it. The disclosure requirements are different in every state. In Missouri, the ethics reporting is lax. There are no campaign limits in Missouri, no lobby ethics really besides regular reporting. I could do almost anything with my campaign money, and you can write me one big check. What is being done, you see lesser amounts coming from the NRA, but you know they're a big part of ALEC, and you get donations coming directly through other corporations and entities. In Missouri, a lot of that money is being funneled through gun shops. You would have to know the name of all the individual gun shops; only the large amounts are going to get flagged. It would be a lot of research work for someone to go follow that trail, but that's part of it, particularly in our state with lax reporting requirements.

After seeing how they voted on the federal level yesterday on even restricting purchases by those on the terrorist watch list, it all just seems hopeless. Nothing is ever going to change, is it?

This is all decided on election day. I tell people, and they don't like when I say it, I say, "Lobbying these people is a waste of time and money." If you are supported by the gun lobby and the NRA, and you tout that and win with their backing, why would you change your mind? Why would you walk away from your millions of dollars knowing that these people supported you? It's the same thing on the pro-life side. People don't change their mind. To me, this has got to happen on election day. We've got to be voting with gun violence in mind, with reproductive justice in mind, and take it upon ourselves to find out where our candidates stand on this and hold them accountable. You've got to stay on us. You've seen the Democrats, even on the federal level, that cower. It's all about re-election. If people, instead of being frustrated, showed up to vote, that to me is the key. Here in Missouri in 2014, we had nine constitutional amendments on our ballot in the primary and the general. One of those was a new and improved right to bear arms, which has put a stranglehold on our prosecutors. It basically allows convicted felons more gun rights. It's crazy. That was a constitutional amendment, which is the new wave among conservatives to put something in effect. Constitutional amendments are much more lasting and harder to repeal than simple legislation.

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We had nine in 2014 and we did not have any statewide races, just legislative races, and these amendments. And yet the voter turnout with those—we're talking about horrible things on the ballot—was less than 30 percent. In some counties, it was even lower. Thirty percent of registered voters, and only around 65 percent of the populace is registered. Meanwhile, our constitution was changed.

People don't bother to show up. To me, it's on us. We can be frustrated, but remember back to high school when you were so excited to vote in your first election? Now, it has to be every single election. That's where a lot of us come from. We're coming from local office, we're coming from primaries in states when no one is paying attention.

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